TEXTILES.ORG
Silicone fabric Sileather® is finding a variety of uses in electric vehicles for Chinese companies Leapmotor, HiPhi Motors and Huawei/SERES.
In the Leapmotor C10 SUV, “baby-grade” Sileather is featured in the seats, door panels and more. Leapmotor chose the material for its family vehicle due to its low volatile organic compound emissions, “inherent stain resistance, long-term aging resistance and baby friendliness,” says Sofia Zhang, key account manager for Sileather. In the HiPhi Z model HA1, the silicone fabric is in seat backs, door panels, armrests, map pockets, and front and rear consoles.
The use in the Huawei AITO M9 model, though, is not in the typical areas one finds upholstery fabric. In the M9 Sileather becomes a 32-inch projection screen for back-seat passengers to have their own movie screen. It also doubles as a shade between the back and front of the car. The company says that the fabric’s flexibility and crack resistance, especially in temperature extremes, was the main reason why the material was chosen by AITO engineers, since it will be continually rolled up and unrolled.
“They also considered and tested vinyl before deciding to adopt Sileather,” Zhang says, “and one of the criteria in the test was that it could not be brittle and cracked when bent at temperatures -40 C [-40 F], which vinyl proved to be unable to achieve.”